Tertullian’s introduction (short biographical-methodal sketch) maps his Carthaginian, juridical stance and warns listeners both of his rhetorical heat and of his formative importance: he coins Latin theological terms, converts legal metaphors into theological weapons, and channels pastoral anxieties about communal witness (hence his severe-sounding tracts on apparel and veiling). Paired with a Confessions reading (for the inward drama Augustine supplies) and Aquinas (for causal-theological correction), the intro helps the listener place Tertullian: not merely a curmudgeon but a defining stylist whose methods shape Western doctrinal policing and vocabulary. (Matthew 28:19; Colossians 1:18)

Readings:

Introduction to Tertullian (brief biographical & methodological primer)

Tertullian, De praescriptione haereticorum (On  ...